eROI Days Email Agency

Things I like: cheesing for the camera, beer, the holidays, websites that include all of these things.

Lucky for me, and you, eROI shares in my adoration for the aforementioned things.

To commemorate the holiday season we wanted to say “Cheers in the Name of Frugality” to all of our clients, supporters and friends.  Joyfully, the entire company is as narcissistic as I am and thought the perfect gift to you was pictures of us (my go-to gift outside my professional life).

Highlights included: beer showers in the kiddy-pool, “organized falling”, clothing removal and, of course, pet cameos.  It was loads of fun and brought all of us together even more.  This one will be hard to top.

See the email we sent out »

See the Holiday Cheer landing page »

Everyone should feel special on their birthday.  In my family that sense of happiness came with a slight sense of humiliation.  Whether it was a sombrero at Who Song and Larry’s or the story of your birth being recounted to your closest friends, birthdays were a roller coaster of emotions.

Being the giver that I am, I was sure to pass on my family traditions to my eROI family.  Thus began the institution of the birthday email.  Even though every employee is guaranteed to get a card late, I made sure that these mild affronts showed up right on time.

Below are a few of the highlights throughout the year.  I hope I don’t lose friends over this.

Our fearless leader in a stylish ’stache.  Click here for the real thing.

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“Woman Sues Toyota Over ‘Terrifying’ Prank” was the ABC News headline that caught the eye of one of eROI’s developers and the article quickly circulated around the office.  The article stated that Amber Duick was suing Toyota for $10 million over emails that supposedly made her believe that she was being stalked.  The campaign in question was for Toyota’s Matrix car.  The emails, intended for “men under 35 who hate advertising,” was a series of emails “from” a fictitious English man on the run from cops claiming to need to stay at the recipients house.  Saatchi & Saatchi, the agency responsible for the ads, even created a fake MySpace page for the fugitive.  The campaign was well executed, funny, creative and buzz worthy and the lawsuit only adds to the hype around the emails.

It seems there are a couple things that don’t line up with the lawsuit.  First of all, the lawyers who represent Toyota asserted that there was a confirmed opt-in process that Duick admitted that she committed to at the initial outset of the series of Toyota campaign emails that she received.   The article didn’t mention whether or not there was an unsubscribe link and physical address in each email (CAN-Spam compliance), as Toyota  and Saatchi & Saatchi may have taken the position that those elements in the email would have detracted from the authenticity of this fake campaign (not sure I’ve ever written “authenticity and fake” in the same sentence where it actually kind of made sense).

If there was an easy opt-out on each and every email, which would make you think either this is the most privacy concerned criminal ever encountered, then there isn’t even a glimmer of hope that Duick could win her case.  As is, Toyota has an overwhelmingly solid legal argument based on her written consent in opt-in.

What could have been done differently?

Obviously a neurotic Los Angeles woman wasn’t their target audience, so how could she have been engaged while not being “terrified?”  List segmentation could have been used to “check in” on consumers not fitting the targeted demographic.  Toyota could have even segmented women from men and had an extra question or check in to make sure their campaign would be received with the appropriate response.  Another idea would be to just make the product a little more blatantly obvious so you know you are interacting with a brand but you are still having fun.  Finding a balance between really creative and fun with responsible marketing is key.

When I first started writing for this blog, it was called “Email Days” and featured lots of examples of everyday emails, highlighting the importance of email in our every day lives, not just touting email marketing only.  So, I thought I’d go back to my roots a little bit and tell you about an email a friend sent me last night.  He is an avid cyclist and knows I like cycling as well, despite the fact that we both mainly commute to work by bike and don’t get to do long rides very often as our weekends are consumed with raising young kids and different kinds of activities then biking.  He sent a link to the video below, which is filmed in Portland, Oregon, and really captures the humor of two different types of cyclists – hipsters vs performance.  This is one of the funnier videos I’ve seen in a while and is very close to home, literally and figuratively.  Enjoy.

Dylan may participate in the Email Wars but I have been on the front line of the Dishes Wars for quite some time now.  There was a heavy blow to my defense recently.  The dishwasher, along with some of my resolve, broke last week.  For a little while my post-it stating, “If you leave dishes in the sink a monster will eat you!” kept the kitchen clear but in time everyone realized I was, in fact, bluffing and no monster would prey on them.  As a final desperate plea, while I waited for the repair man, I sent out an email to the team begging for mercy from the suds.

I hope some of you can understand my pain.

I love that YouTube videos are timeless and all of us can re-live ridiculous moments years later. At eROI, we have dozens and dozens of those moments captured over the past many years on the eROI YouTube channel here >>. So, why am I doing a Flashback blog post? Yesterday, I had a client meeting with my friend James Adair and the typical client meeting turned into something so much better after watching the below video on our big screen. The second video is of distinguished Portland PR specialist, JulieAnna Little Giannini. She was the winner at eROI Idol, so it was only appropriate to include her video as well.

I got a lot of comments on my look (see below) where I sported the 70’s stache for a solid 2 days.  Most of you cringed in pain just looking at me with my stache.  But some of you liked it, like a yearning for the days of Saturday Night Fever.  So, your task is to comment below with a haiku on how you feel about 70’s style in today’s age.

KillROI has been a busy robot, checking out the scenes that Portland has to offer.  Thanks to Nancy’s creative use of her camera and for sending us the hilarious photos, we are able to share those adventures with you.  Here is what Nancy had to say about KillROI’s adventures:

We’ve had a lot of fun touring around Old Town Chinatown, KillROI’s home (and mine).

From a First Thursday event at ANKA Gallery, to the Steel Bridge and the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, KillROI took it all in stride.

On a tour of the Central Library’s eco-roof, KillROI proved to have no fear of heights, and on a snowshoe trek to Mt. Hood’s Trillium Lake, KillROI conquered a mountain of snow.

My personal favorite is the “where’s waldo” version–the hood of an art car. Where next?  Only the Shadow knows . . . .

Thanks again Nancy and we look forward to what lies ahead for our good friend KillROI!

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After the last week of blog posts looking forward into 2009, I thought it would be relevant for the first blog post of 2009 to be about the Best of ‘08. The key to email marketing is personalization and ultra-relevance. This email was to my parents, sisters, and brother-in-laws about a funny video on Saturday Night Live called “Jizz in My Pants.” My Mom’s response was so funny I had to forward it to all eROI employees. If you know my Mom, it’s even funnier.

—–Original Message—–
From: Ryan Buchanan
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 1:53 PM
To: Ryan’s family
Subject: Very funny, popular SNL video

Saturday Night Live at its finest – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4.

This is one of the most passed around video in the past couple weeks.

Cheers,
Ryan

—————————-
The video is below:

And my Mom’s response…
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Like most of you, I got dozens of corporate “Happy Holidays” emails. Most had great intent behind them (donating to good causes instead of sending a paper card or gift), but these email campaigns lacked creativity and fell flat in their execution.  GoDaddy’s holiday email and flash landing page was so tame and off-brand from the edgy stance they’ve taken with their Super Bowl ads.  Some of our vendors sent me holiday emails that were strong sales pitches – not appropriate for a time of reflection and authenticity.  Most other emails had generic subject lines like “Happy Holidays from x” and generic email design with low or generic results to their campaigns.  I liked 2 holiday emails (beyond our own holiday email) – the first was from Michelle Obama – the main thing I liked was that the Obama campaign FINALLY didn’t ask me for money for themselves – they did ask me to donate to my local food bank.

The second holiday email campaign (see above for email design) had such compelling and humorous, original content on its landing page that it made up for a slightly expected subject line and simple email design and copywriting.  Basically, this email from Sandstrom Partners was incredibly effective at getting me to click on the main call to action and even better at getting me to laugh as I completely connected with the agency gift conundrum.  See if you think their video landing page is funny too >>

I never thought I’d have ‘thank you Palin’ in the title of anything I’d ever write, but I’ve done it. She and Tina Fey have made Saturday Night Live so unbelievably relevant and funny again. SNL absolutely nailed this skit last night – Baldwin said exactly what most guys (at least my guy friends) are thinking and to make this blog post relevant to online marketing, I must tell you that I don’t watch any of this stuff on TV anymore – I race to my computer on a Sunday morning and laugh my head off watching it on Saturday Night Live’s website.

Chris Masagatani, you were on the SNL set last week, what’s your take on all the new buzz around Saturday Night Live. Please comment below.

Everyone else – tell me – are you watching SNL skits on their site or YouTube on Sunday or during the workweek, or is this blog post the first time you’ve seen its online video? Comment.

I got this email yesterday from a company called EnglishBaby! that ‘teaches’ conversational English (via the slang of professional atheletes and Hollywood stars) to an online community of nearly a million people all over the world. The email was perfect – it had one clear call to action, a great concept of a videographer following two EnglishBaby! members that met online on EnglishBaby! and got married. Better yet, it was ultra relevant as it was sent to me the day before Valentine’s Day. Crap – I almost forgot – I need to buy my wife roses and maybe a cool orchid before I get home from work today.

“To celebrate this day of love, we traveled to Istanbul for the wedding of two English, baby! members who met while learning English on the site. We hope you like the video!

Forward this message to your friends to wish them a happy Valentine’s Day!”

Check out the video – it’s awesome:
The trailer: http://www.englishbaby.com/lessons/istanbul
The main video: http://www.englishbaby.com/lessons/istanbul2

I got this email from a co-worker who usually sends me far more edgy emails, but this one is surprisingly clean and still funny (especially if you have kids).

“> > A father passing by his son’s bedroom was astonished to see that his bed
> >was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope,
> >Propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to “Dad.”
> > With the worst premonition he opened the envelope with trembling
> >hands and read the letter.
> >
> > Dear Dad:
> > It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to
> >Elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and
> >you. I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I
> >knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, Tattoos,
> >tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am.
> >But it’s not only the passion…Dad she’s pregnant.
> >
> > Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the
> >woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of
> >having many more children.
> >
> > Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really
> >hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other
> >people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime we will
> >pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She
> >deserves it. Don’t worry Dad. I’m 15 and I know how to take care of
> >myself.
> >
> > Someday I’m sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to
> >know your grandchildren.
> >
> > Love, Your Son John
> >
> > PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Tommy’s house. I just
> >wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a report
> >card that’s in my center desk drawer.
> >
> > I love you. Call me when it’s safe to come home.”

This email glossary (that a co-worker sent me) is hilarious – take a read and comment below if you can add to this list:

“Tipping point
Point during a conversation by email where it becomes clear to both participants that they could have sorted things out days ago with a five-minute phone call.

Out of Office Reply
Device used by business people to avoid having to respond quickly to incoming email.

Thank you interval
Time spent wondering if you need to send a thank-you reply to a thank-you email.

Fistful
Measurement unit for spam. 10 spam emails is one fistful. Ten or more fistfuls is one sh*tload. So a sh*tload of spam is anything more than 100 spam emails.

Reply-all blindness
Disease characterized by an inability to distinguish between the “reply” and “reply all” buttons in an email client. Typical symptoms include acute embarrassment and complete loss of privacy.

Junk folder equation
The decision to review the contents of your junk folder is a function of two factors A and B. Where A is the potential value of finding useful mail inadvertently filtered into the spam folder. And B is the depressing prospect of wading through 500 ads for p*nis enlargers just to find an expired coupon for your local hardware store.

CC/BCC blindness
Disease causing the victim to put every address in their distribution list in the CC field of their email client, thus ensuring everyone gets a copy of both the message and the address list. Victims generally only suffer once from this affliction.

Disclaimer text
Long-winded piece of legalese commonly found at the bottom of corporate emails to indicate that the message “Hey John, how was your date last night?” should not be construed as a binding legal contract or a business solicitation. And unauthorized use, disclosure, copying or alteration of this question is forbidden on pain of something undefined (but possibly unpleasant) happening to you.

Can-Spam Act 2003
1. US law designed to restrict the sending of unsolicited commercial email
2. US law designed to allow the sending of unsolicited commercial email

Download uncertainty threshold
Point in time at which it is clear that the incoming email must include a large attachment, meaning either potential work, holiday snaps or another forlorn attempt to do something amusing with Photoshop.

The email paradox
The simultaneous feeling of despair and optimism when you check your email in the morning. Optimism at what interesting messages might arrive. Despair at the thought of finding work, complaints, several fistfuls (see above) of spam, another email from that client/customer/friend you’re trying to avoid…and yet more forlorn attempts to do something amusing with Photoshop.

Non-verbal clue
Situation where recipient is left wondering if the phrase “Die, you b*stard, die!” should be taken at face value or is simply another one of those unfortunate email misunderstandings.

Spam surveys
Statistics collected by anti-spam solution providers to give them an excuse to put out a press release once a quarter to tell us that there’s a lot of spam around (in case we hadn’t noticed.)”

Thanks to my friend Dylan Boyd from eROI, I learned about a new site for all of the funniest, best emails that you get from friends or straight from the source. The site is called FWDitOn.com – check it out. Here is one email that I’m going to post on that site:

“While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a
truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

“Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems
there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you
see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.”

“No problem, just let me in,” says the man.

“Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is
have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where
to spend eternity.”

“Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,” says the senator.

“I’m sorry, but we have our rules.”

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